Turn On Your Creative Self

Milwaukee Art Museum  MMSikes

How many creative people do you know? How many are super creative? I'm talking about folks who never seem to lack for ideas--those who are forever inventive.

This morning I watched Charlie Rose interview George Lucas. We first knew him as the Star Wars genius, and, of course, he's gone on from there to ever-escalating success. No doubt, Lucas has more projects in mind than he has years left to create them. It was enlightening to hear him talk.

Who does not marvel at the genius of the artist who created the Quadracci Pavilion at the Milwaukee Art Museum? This masterpiece spreads its glorious wings at certain times each day, and crowds gather to photograph this magnificent spectacle. Santiago Calatrava is the artist behind the creation of this amazing structure.

Like these brilliant men, each of us has creative potential, but how do we turn it on? We have only to use our imaginations, and everyone of us can do that.

Here are my tips to turn on your creative self:

1. Close your eyes and focus on an object or a shape that intrigues you. Perhaps it's a star or a circle. Take a deep breath and see what else comes to mind. Focus once again on your star.

2. Now, open your eyes, and take a piece of paper. Let new ideas flow through your pen. Perhaps a poem will come to you or the beginning thoughts for an essay. Write them down.

3. If you are an artist, stand before a blank canvas and visualize the new image you want there. Imagine the colors and the flow of the brush. Make a thumbnail sketch.

4. Keep a book filled with the new ideas that come to you, the poems, the story ideas, the paintings, even visions of new inventions. Each week turn one of your ideas into realization. It can be another chapter in your book or a new addition to your portfolio.

You can become the next creative genius. Just allow the ideas to flow...